30 years of sustainability leadership for the built environment - so, what's next?

10 October 2024 - The significance of our built environment in both its contribution to, and its response to, global challenges cannot be understated. Dr Kayla Friedman, Director for the Master’s and Postgraduate Certificate in Sustainability Leadership for the Built Environment, shares the evolution of our sustainable built environment postgraduate programmes as we celebrate 30 years of delivery with a new name for a well-established programme; and look towards the role educators still have to play in resolving these challenges. 

In September, we welcomed our 30th group of students to the Master of Studies in Interdisciplinary Design for the Built Environment (IDBE) programme. Next year, we will be welcoming our 31st group to the newly re-branded Master of Studies in Sustainability Leadership for the Built Environment (SLBE). This evolution has been a long time in the making, one could say since 2017 when the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) took over the IDBE programme from the University of Cambridge’s Engineering and Architecture departments, but arguably even before then. Since 1994, the IDBE has taught approximately 500 Master’s students and over 100 Postgraduate Certificate students from a myriad of built environment disciplines and from around the globe.  The programme has become embedded within CISL’s educational offering and is an industry specific sister course to the CISL Master of Studies in Sustainability Leadership. 

The IDBE programme, the first Master of Studies programme at the University of Cambridge, was founded on the knowledge that the multi-faceted industry that creates our built environment was fractured and inefficient. The trustees of the Ove Arup Foundation (an organisation that honours the memory of designer and philosopher, Sir Ove Arup by funding educational programmes and initiatives, particular related to sustainability and interdisciplinary collaboration in the built environment) perceived a need for an initiative to bring professionals in the built environment together to study with a set of common objectives, supported by leading academics and industry practitioners. The learning experience was not to be limited to specific disciplines. These ideas were examined at a seminar at Madingley Hall in Cambridge in 1991. Several higher education establishments were invited to put forward expressions of interest and, after an exhaustive selection process, the Foundation agreed to support the Cambridge proposal for IDBE. Consequently, the programme was established at Cambridge and admitted its first cohort of students in July 1994.  

In the intervening 30 years, many things have changed whilst others have stubbornly remained the same. The significance of our built environment in both its contribution to, and its response to, global challenges cannot be understated.  The built environment is responsible for around 40% of global energy consumption and 33% of global greenhouse gas emissions[1]. The construction and operation of buildings accounts for 50% of all extracted materials and 33% of water consumption[2]. In addition, the built environment generates 35% of global waste[3]. We will not meet our climate targets without radical change in this industry. 

And yet, the fragmented nature of the industry continues to be problematic and the vicious circle of blame[4] culture continues to prevent built environment professionals from delivering the sustainable and resilient outcomes that are completely achievable with today’s knowledge, skills, and technology. Advanced education for professionals to overcome these obstacles and to lead the sustainability change in the built environment is needed now more than ever. 

In 2017, when CISL took on the IDBE programme, it was because we understood this urgency; that the built environment is critical for transforming economic systems to build a sustainable and resilient future for people, nature and climate. The course was refreshed to more prominently place sustainability leadership at its core- something that had grown to be implicit within the teaching was subsequently embedded as explicit. CISL also expanded the offering to include a postgraduate certificate which gave more professionals greater access to this critical teaching and learning. 

Reflecting on the past 30 years and seeing where we have come from, and being clear on where we need to go, we now look forward to the next 30 years where sustainability leadership will determine how well humanity meets its future. In the renaming of this ground-breaking programme, we embrace the role we have as educators in supporting the transition to a sustainable future, specifically through engagement with the built environment.  Our job continues to be to bring diverse professionals together to learn how to work better together to deliver the sustainable and resilient built environments that we need to thrive.  To do this, we need leadership - both top down and bottom up, across the sector. In embracing our new name, CISL’s Master’s and Postgraduate Certificate in Sustainability Leadership for the Built Environment, we declare our intention and commitment to bringing about positive change through education, engagement, and empowerment.  

Delivering exceptional future-fit built environment projects requires the deep-skill discipline of many individuals sharing a collective vision and purpose. Our Sustainability Leadership for the Built Environment programmes teach global best practices through project-based learning, with a focus on collaboration and leadership throughout. Applications for 2025 entry to the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership’s (CISL) Certificate and Master’s in Interdisciplinary Design for the Built Environment and associated scholarships and bursaries open in September 2024. 

This year our Master’s in Sustainability Leadership for the Built Environment celebrates 30 years of impact in the built environment, as we look forward to the next 30 years of sustainability in the built environment, we invite you to participate in the ‘Perspectives on Sustainability Leadership for the Built Environment’ survey. This international survey of professionals in the built environment sector seeks to capture opinions and perspectives related to opportunities and challenges facing the sector, including interdisciplinary collaboration and sustainability. Responses will be used to inform development of the programme and contribute to industry and academic discourse about the sector's future. The survey is open to anyone who works or has worked in a role in any way related to the built environment sector. Please feel free to share the survey link with your professional network. 

[1] https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/02/why-the-buildings-of-the-future-are-key-to-an-efficient-energy-ecosystem/